Sex Pistols - The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle

Starring:Malcolm McLaren, Steve Jones (VI), Sid Vicious, Paul Cook, John Lydon, Mary Millington, Irene Handl, Edward Tudor-Pole, Jess Conrad, Liz Fraser, Ronald Biggs, Helen Wellington-Lloyd, Julian Holloway, John Shannon, Alan Jones, Faye Hart, James Aubrey, Peter Dean, Jordan (III), Nancy Spungen
Director: Julien Temple
Studio: Shout Factory
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com
Cheeky and chaotic, the 1980 The Great Rock 'N' Roll Swindle began life as a Russ Meyer project (co-written by Roger Ebert) called Who Killed Bambi?. Julien Temple (Earth Girls Are Easy) took over, working closely with the Pistols' former manager, Malcolm McClaren, and overhauled the script to focus almost exclusively on McClaren's self-serving recollections of turning an unknown band into a success through poor musicianship, crafty bookings, and well-publicized bad manners at pivotal moments. Temple's rococo approach evokes an 18th century riot (in which effigies of the Pistols are burned), noir-like passages featuring guitarist Steve Jones as a thief, and the unholy sight of McClaren taking a bath in palatial surroundings. There's little footage of the Pistols themselves, though what exists is choice: the band's infamous Jubilee Day performance on the Thames, their last gig in San Francisco. Years later, McClaren's contention that he pulled one over on us because the Pistols couldn't play is patently absurd. --Tom Keogh
Description
The Definitive Punk Movie - Finally on DVD!

The Sex Pistols star in director Julien Temple's bizarre and hilarious fictional documentary that charts the rise and fall of punk's most notorious band through the eyes of its calculating manager, Malcolm McLaren. Mixing animation and midgets with footage of some of The Pistols' most electrifying live performances, the 1980 film presents the band's success as an elaborate scam perpetrated by McLaren to make "a million pounds" at the expense of record companies, outraged moralists, the British Royal Familyand even the fans and band members themselves.

The Great Rock Rock 'n' Roll Swindle was called "a parable of our times" by the Guardian (UK), but most music fans simply consider it one of the best rock films ever. More than 25 years after their breakup, The Sex Pistols' music continues to influence punk and post-punk bands the world over. The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle shows why.

Amazon.com

Cheeky and chaotic, the 1980 The Great Rock 'N' Roll Swindle began life as a Russ Meyer project (co-written by Roger Ebert) called Who Killed Bambi?. Julien Temple (Earth Girls Are Easy) took over, working closely with the Pistols' former manager, Malcolm McClaren, and overhauled the script to focus almost exclusively on McClaren's self-serving recollections of turning an unknown band into a success through poor musicianship, crafty bookings, and well-publicized bad manners at pivotal moments. Temple's rococo approach evokes an 18th century riot (in which effigies of the Pistols are burned), noir-like passages featuring guitarist Steve Jones as a thief, and the unholy sight of McClaren taking a bath in palatial surroundings. There's little footage of the Pistols themselves, though what exists is choice: the band's infamous Jubilee Day performance on the Thames, their last gig in San Francisco. Years later, McClaren's contention that he pulled one over on us because the Pistols couldn't play is patently absurd. --Tom Keogh

Description

The Definitive Punk Movie - Finally on DVD!

SPECIAL FEATURES
Interview and commentary with director Julien Temple by Chris Salewicz
5.1 Surround Sound

Customer Reviews:

Inaccurate but highly entertaining and bizarre film, best taken as a cult curiosity. Mediocre DVD treatment, though.......2007-03-29

It's good to see this film finally out on DVD, but the movie deserved a better DVD release than this one -- not because it's an accurate telling of the Sex Pistols' story (it's not) or because it's even particularly coherent (it's not), but because it's an extremely entertaining and bizarre period piece.

First of all, this sorta (some might say "pseudo") documentary tells the story from the perspective of the band's manager Malcolm McLaren, who is a BS artist of the highest order. Other reviewers have already laid out all the claims he makes -- he created the Sex Pistols solely for the purpose of swindling the record companies, the Pistols were not meant to have any talent, blah blah. Of course I don't believe what he says, and I'm not sure even he believes it, but it still makes for a great story nonetheless. Putting aside the veracity of McLaren's story, this movie isn't really even a proper documentary, but a random and bizarre mish-mash of archive footage of various Sex Pistols performances mixed in with McLaren's own self-indulgent babblings, animated skits, fictional re-enactments, an extended portion which follows ex-Pistols Steve Jones and Paul Cook to Brazil to hook up with notorious train robber Ronnie Biggs, and some truly weird scenes (such as the masked man who bursts into a room with a talking Rottweiler). No, it's not accurate or even a conventional documentary, but if you appreciate bizarre stuff like I do, it's quite entertaining and often hilarious.

Too bad the DVD release isn't particularly good. As other people have already said, the film transfer is lame (and at least on my DVD, there are some really annoying black dots at the right edge of the screen), and there's not a whole lot in the way of DVD extra goodies. And the director's commentary track by Julien Temple is all but useless. Most directors use the commentary tracks to tell interesting stories about the film's making and to give insight on the making on the movie, but Temple babbles on incoherently more than he gives any kind of useful or interesting information.

I'd recommend this DVD for people who've already seen this movie, are hardcore Sex Pistols completists, or just like the kind of bizarre underground cult films that the '70s produced scads of (other films of this ilk would include John Waters' early films or another punksploitation film "Jubilee"). Casual Sex Pistols fans might want to save their money, though. If you're looking for an informative and accurate movie about the Sex Pistols, watch "The Filth and the Fury," the 2000 documentary that was also directed by Julien Temple.

Talk About a Swindle.......2007-03-27

The only swindle here is this movie. It is a farce and a lie and a slap in the face of the legacy of the Sex Pistols. And even as a piece of fictional filmaking, it's just not that good. As others have noted, the period clips of Pistols and solo Sid Vicious performances are the only redeeming feature. But the "story" as such is lacking in so many ways; the acting and script are hilariously bad and the film transfer is simply atrocious. Buy it if you will ( on sale or used if you can ) but please don't take it seriously.

Only good for the videos and sid clips .......2007-02-22

This movie, like many band films of the 1970s, is basicly lacking a storyline and is only worth it to see the vintage sex pistol clips. The full length clips for God Save the Queen, Pretty Vacant and the Sid clips Something Else and My way. The film mostly features their manager Malcolm talking about his "swindle"=his management of the Sex Pistols. Johhny is absent from the film cuase he left the band and shows random clips of the other bandmates frolicking (and Malcolm, Steve & Paul are seen in some scenes with full frontal nudity)just doing odd things. Pretty much, it's like a very bad monty python film with punk music.

Again, it's just worth it to just fast forward through the film for the couple of cool clips. other than that, it's rubbish.

McClaren is a cheat.......2006-06-26

This movie is based purely on the idea that McClaren created the Sex Pistols...*crickets*...The Real answer, he didn't. He sat in a corner played with his thumbs, while the band changed history. McClaren, the narrator of the movie (not documentary), tells a "story" of how he led the Pistols into a huge trap and created them from their rubble. THIS MOVIE DID NOT HAVE THE CONSENT OF THE SEX PISTOLS! John Lydon (lead singer a.k.a. Johnny Rotten) is not even in the movie, and claims this movie as a mockary. This is just a fictional entertainment based movie. This Movie is good for a laugh at McClaren's idea of what happened, but should not be judged as the true story.

filthy lucre is fun.......2006-04-13

While I abhor Malcom McLaren, I've always loved the Sex Pistols since the U.S. release of Never Mind the Bollocks....
I wished Sid Vicious had never joined the band, as, contrary to what McLaren said, these guys could play (the live footage of "Anarchy in the U.K. proves this), but I'm convinced Sidnay was just used as a prop. Johnny Rotten was made out to be the bad guy, but he seems to have stayed true to his punk roots to this day.
Some of the best parts of this dvd are the animation sequences, which are hilarious. There's a lot of humor in this documentary. Frankly I think the storyline is amazingly well done.
If you have any interest in real punk rock you'd be well to get this, in addition to the first Clash album.

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